Five Minutes

Burnin' For You

She knew her culinary skills weren't amazing, but Veronica had still done her best to concoct a tasty meal for Ralston when she returned home in the evening.

Not wanting to purposely select a straightforward recipe, she chose something with a moderate level of difficulty. So she made grilled steak with herbs and loaded baked potatoes, making sure to cook the steak medium rare the way Ralston liked it.

After he managed to empty his portion, Ralston dropped his fork and knife on the plate. "Man, that was great."

"I'm happy you loved it," Veronica said. She'd managed to consume only half her own plate.

"I still feel bad you cooked. I was home," he added.

"If I didn't want to do it, I wouldn't have offered. You know I don't pull that crap," Veronica assured him.

"The least I could do then is clean up." Ralston picked up his plate from the dining table.

"No!" Veronica exclaimed. "I'll do it."

With raised eyebrows and an amused smile, he hesitantly set it back down. "Okay," he said. "But it'll take less-"

"Hey!" Veronica cut in. "Don't worry about it." She rose from her seat and approached him, leaning down to gently nip his lips. "Go upstairs and wait for me. I'll be up in a few minutes." She gave him a kiss, teasingly slipping her tongue past his partly open only briefly before pulling a back. She then placed her lips against the corner of his mouth. "I won't be that long."

She caught him staring at her lips before his eyes levelled with hers and he nodded slowly. "Okay," he said.

As she hoped, he made no further comment as he rose from his seat and headed into the bedroom.

She gathered all the dishes and poured all the remnants of food into the garbage disposal. Piling everything up into the sink took several minutes. She turned the faucet on and squeezed in the dish soap as the sink filled up with water.

With the quiet and the lack of conversation, she began to think about the the day's events. It left her despondent and wishing she hadn't offered to clean everything up by herself.

Her and Sam had been friends for many years. And it hurt too much to know it couldn't be repaired. Even if Sam apologized, Veronica's heart ached knowing that she'd been doubted at any point.

Every dish was washed carefully and methodically, while she tried to discard the thoughts, and failed. Like she always did. One by one they each dropped like flies. Like dominoes. Who'd be left? Sallie and Landry?

What really hurt most of all was that she'd known Mel, Sam and Alana longer than she'd known Landry and much longer than she known Sallie. And yet it was the latter two who believed her without a flicker of skepticism. It only proved that time didn't have any significance in solidifying a friendship.

She supposed it was better learning that now rather than never.

___________

It wasn't that late, and yet, as Ralston lay in bed, half propped up with a pillow, waiting for Veronica, he nearly dosed off. He fiddled with his phone to keep himself from falling asleep, but it wasn't working that effectively. He hadn't realized how tired he was.

He looked up when he heard the door open and Veronica walked in.

"Sorry. That took longer than I thought," she said as she strolled closer towards the bed.

"It wouldn't have if you'd let me help you," he told her. He still felt bad that she'd done the work alone. A lot of dishes had accumulated. With him helping, it would have split the time in half.

"It was nothing. Just some dirty dishes."
She crawled onto the bed onto Ralston's lap her legs positioned on either side of him. Suddenly, she snatched the phone from his grasp. "Stop fucking around on your phone," she said and dropped it a few feet away on the bed.

Before he could say anything, she kissed him, hard, forcing his mouth open, the invasion of her tongue sudden and aggressive. And surprising. Ralston raised his hands and cupped her face.

Her fingers pulled the bottom of his shirt out from his pants, sliding beneath to touch his skin and run up his abdomen to his chest. All the while, she roughly ground her hips against his erection.

He felt her hands travel back down his torso, until she reached the front of his belt. Their lips still intact, she managed to unbuckle his belt and unzip the front of his pants, her fingers snaking into his boxer briefs and easily finding what she was looking for. Ralston breathed out loudly through his nose, astounded by her stamina.

She kept at it for a while, stroking him with one hand and using the other to try unbuttoning the front of his shirt. When he noticed her struggling, he helped open the buttons to remove his shirt and throw it on the floor.

By this point, Ralston needed a second to breathe and pulled back, panting hard.

Veronica released her grip and sat up straighter to pull off her dress and unhook her bra. And Ralston just watched her. Watched her raise her hips and slip her fingers underneath her underwear to push it down and toss it aside.

Ralston hadn't really composed himself well by the time she kissed him again, playfully trailing downward until her lips were brushing against the line of hair below his navel.

But then she stopped.

He frowned at her, his breathing heavy. "Fuck. Stop torturing me," he said.

"I'm not." Her next actions showed she was just trying to free him from his pants and his boxer briefs.

It didn't take very long for Ralston to come after that. It was months of little to no intimacy, of lack of physical closeness. He firmly gripped her waist as she roughly rocked herself against him. And he hit a refractory period fast, but it didn't matter. He recovered well enough, and they had sex again. And again. And Ralston's relaxed and fogged mind lost track of time.

And he wasn't discreet about the sounds he made, the roaring cries he released or about the amount of expletives that came out of his mouth. It was a good thing his neighbours didn't live close by.